Forever Friday: The Giver

Forever Friday is an original weekly post to spotlight a book I’ll love forever!

If it weren’t for the cute name, this post could really just be called “Weezie is old and nostalgic”. Because I am old and I am becoming increasingly nostalgic over the books that shaped me into the reader I am today.

THE GIVER by Lois Lowry is another book that my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Shelton, read to us, and I fell in love. For most of us, THE GIVER was our first taste of middle grade dystopian or dystopian in general and it’s always been the standard I’ve held every other dystopian novel up to.

I was a terribly sensitive kid (who grew up to be a terribly sensitive adult) and I remember this being one of the 3 books that I actually faked sick so I could go home after it was done. (The other two were BRIDGE TO TEREBITHA and WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS.) I was so upset that the not knowing if they survived and sick to my stomach that the adults were so willing to kill an innocent baby.

Now that I’ve read it as an adult, I appreciate how (excuse my language) fucked up this world is. Pills to surpress hormones and emotions. Families made by government matches and not love. The overwhelming need to keep everyone docile and happy and unquestioning. And how it just takes one person to say no to start unraveling injustices.

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Published by weezieswhimsicalwritings

My name is Weezie, and I am a 20-something year old Mvskoke Two-Spirit Space Ace environmentalist from Alabama. I love pizza, all things Halloween, and great representation in literature for all marginalised people. In January 2017, I was elected to serve as the liaison to the libraries for my county’s community action board with a focus on bringing more diverse books to the children’s and young adult sections of the 8 libraries in my county.
My pronouns are they/them.
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5 thoughts on “Forever Friday: The Giver”

I read it in school, too. You’re right, the world described in the story was very messed up. The way Jonas found out about all the injustices was very unique and the story itself was very different from other dystopian books for the same age group. The conclusion was especially unique. Good choice!

Yesss, I love this book so much! I actually didn’t read it until a few years ago so I was around 20 or so, but I seriously wish I had read it when I was younger because I think I would’ve loved it even more back then.